The Refs are taking our jobs…..

By Khalid Salaam

So I was ready for game 3. I promised myself I would watch an entire game from start to finish, something I haven’t done since the Suns/Spurs series. My reaction to last night’s game? When does the draft start? Because I’m done with these playoffs, no joking, I’m done. Thankfully there is but one or two at the most remaining games. And yeah Lebron was fouled but they weren’t gonna win the game anyway. If you can’t maintain a lead at home, in your teams first ever Finals game, with Duncan scoring 8 points in the 2nd half, with Tony Parker playing like his upcoming nuptials are on his mind and Ginobili going scoreless right up until those foul shots, then you’re not winning at all. San Antonio (and the League??) gift-wrapped game 3 for the Cavs and they still couldn’t capitalize. But back to the foul on Lebron, it brings up another topic.

I can’t recall viewing another year’s playoffs where the refs were so involved. Didn’t a mandate go out before the playoffs started? I thought refs would be less visible, less involved in all but the most obvious of rule violations. They have drained the life outta me as fan. Too much home-court advantage non-sense where the road teams gets called for crossing their eyes too much. Or random non-calls on plays that are super-obvious to everybody else. The commentators always reply with some generic speech about “the speed of the game” and that “they can’t see everything” or something about the refs “opinion” like I care what they think. If they can’t do the job then they shouldn’t be out there. What other profession works like this? If i’m on deadline and my story isn’t in I can’t use the excuse that i just can’t type fast enough. If i can’t get over why should they?

The refs are too damn old to be honest. Here’s a rule, if at the time they were drafting soldiers in WW2 or the Korean war and you at that time were deemed too far past your physical prime and were unable to enlist because you were too old then YOU ARE TOO OLD TO REFEREE A NBA GAME IN 2007. That would save a lot of craziness from ever occurring. There should be cap or something. How about if you’re older than John McCain then you don’t get to judge the athletic prowess of 22 year olds. You ask people why they dislike the NBA as compared to college ball (or the nfl) and you’ll hear a lot of talk about the refs playing too big a role in the outcome of the game. This has to stop. Who’s with me?